Lighting systems for vehicles include exterior lights, interior lights, a light switch, and a controller. Exterior lights include headlights, tail lights, and running lights and interior lights include dome lights, ambient lights, and door lights. The light switch typically provides a signal to a controller such as a Body Control Module (BCM). The BCM may include drivers such as intelligent metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) to supply power to the lights. Upon power supplied to the lights, the lights will illuminate at a specific color determined by vehicle designers based on the location and function of the lights.
The comfort and convenience associated with the operation of vehicular systems may make a lasting impression that can either strongly encourage or discourage a customer from purchasing a vehicle. As a result, vehicle designers, in certain circumstances, are designing systems based on studies of human factors and ergonomics (HF&E).
Current light switches are configured with static positions such as lights off, parking lights activated, and headlights activated. Some vehicles also include an automatic light control mode that uses vehicle sensors such as an ambient light detector to automatically turn on and turn off the lights of the vehicle. With the current switches, a driver of the vehicle must manually select the choice of operation by manually rotating, pulling, or sliding the switch into the desired static position.
Advances over the above approaches for switching a lighting system are summarized below.